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Topic: would this work- shaving cell walls? (Read 1214 times)

hi, I was wondering about if a queenless split nuc has to raise a queen from emergency cells, and there are eggs and young larvae only on combs with plenty of cocoons-would it help the bees to raise a quality queen if the largest portion of the comb cell walls (per height) is removed with a sharp knife first, thus the bees would have less trouble to build larger queen cells

first of all, once i was told: there are no stupid questions, there are only stupid answers - BEELOVER, thanks, you got me the definite proof this statement is valid

secondly,Brendhan thanks for your advice, i realize the bees know best how to raise their own queen in the best way they can, i know the bee biology quite a bit, BUT,also, once i was told, if you gonna make a split this way, it is much better to take a recently built comb filed with eggs and young larvae-this way the bees can chew out the cell walls so the emergency cells built are larger and consequently the queen raised will be of a higher quality, rather than from old combs, with though cell walls (due to the cocoons),

BUT, if you have only old brood combs available, i was wondering if the mentioned procedure would help the bees to produce emergency cells of a higher quality

I haven't heard of that, but I did read a pamphlet where the fellow would put a ?.22.? bullet over the cells that he wanted as queens, then would powder sugar of flour the frame and kill all of the others. Then there would only be select cells become queens where you want them.

I think that shaving the cells down would just allow them to keep the cell closer to the frame instead of farther out. They will build the cell as big as they need to and float the larvae out of the cell.

But don't always take our word on it and try it out yourself if you get the chance. Sometimes they do things that are illogical....

And it IS a good idea to keep a boardman feeder on the hive with water in it so that they can stay refreshed and cool. Better than having them try to go swimming at the neighbors. Sometimes it helps to try to understand the question before shooting off your fingers.